Ubuntu isn't recognizing my video card

[kira.]

I went to turn on my computer, and a prompt came up telling me that Ubuntu was going to run in "low graphics mode", because it couldn't seem to recognize my nvidia video card. When I tried to check my nvidia-settings, it gave me a box with the following:

You do not appear to be using the NVIDIA X driver. Please edit your X configuration file (just run `nvidia-xconfig` as root), and restart the X server.

When I wrote "nvidia-xconfig" into the terminal, it told me:

Using X configuration file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf".

ERROR: Unable to write to directory '/etc/X11'.

I'm guessing that for some reason I'm missing the drivers, but I'm not really sure..

Any ideas?

[IceBadger]

My guess is that you do not have the correct permissions as a non-super user. Did you try "sudo nvidia-xconfig"? Was this the result of an update, an upgrade to a newer version of Ubuntu, or a clean install?

What type of Nvidia card is this?

[kira.]

Yeah, I used sudo, but it still doesn't work

I'm pretty sure it has to do with an update. The other day, I updated using the package manager, and when I restarted in ubuntu the next day, it was like this.

I'm using an Nvidia GeForce 8800<-(not sure about the number) video card

[MeURi]

Well, I have an nVIDIA GeForce 6800GT, and my /etc/X11/xorg.conf is the following:

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
Option "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
DefaultDepth 24
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Driver "nvidia"
Option "NoLogo" "True"
Option "FlatPanelProperties" "Scaling=Centered"
Option "RenderAccel" "True"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection


I have the latest nVIDIA driver shipped with Ubuntu, check if they are correctly installed via synaptic

If you don't have any special hardware configuration, my xorg.conf should be ok also for you (mainly the "Device" section)

I'm sorry not to be more precise than this about the drivers in use, but I'm in Windows now.

Let us know if you solve the problem

PS: I usually don't use nvidia-xconfig, I prefer reading the driver's options on the nVIDIA website and modify my xorg.conf by hand

[kira.]

where is my xorg. file? and should i just use a text editor to change it?

[MeURi]

Here I am again :-)

The xorg.conf file is located in the /etc/X11/ folder. Any text editor is capable of handling it, since it's plain text.

And well... I suggest you to choose an editor which does syntax highlighting (so you can easily discover typos in keywords, and so on... it helps also in understanding the structure of a configuration file)

[Mardoct909]

Are you running Gnome?

sudo apt-get install envyng-gtk

Or KDE?

sudo apt-get install envyng-qt

Ok, now you have a utility for managing ATI and Nvidia drivers.

I believe it is found in Applications->Utlities under Gnome, but look around the menus if not. When it's open, it's simple to install the Nvidia drivers. After clicking the "Install Nvidia" button, it automatically gets the one you need, install it and configures it and your Xorg.conf as needed.

[Grashopper]

What do I do if envyng isn't working? I typed

sudo apt-get install envyng-gtk

into the terminal and it said: E: Couldn't find package envyng-gtk

Newbie to Linux and Ubuntu. Please help, thanks!

[Grashopper]

I should also mention I downloaded the package from:

http://packages.ubuntu.com/source/intrepid/envyng-gtk

but I'm not sure what do to do with it at this point...

[MeURi]

The page you linked says that envyng-gtk is in the multiverse repository, so maybe it's just a matter of having all the repositories enabled in your sources.list file.

If you don't know how to enable extra repositories, go here (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Ubuntu).

Anyway, you downloaded the package sources, so it means you have to compile it, install it, and only after you can use it.

Enable the repositories and install it through synaptic or from the console like you already tried to do. It's the simplest way ;-)

PS: the package envyng-gtk stays in the universe repository; its source is in the multiverse repo.